Robins employees come from far and wide

Robins Air Force Base is the undisputed economic backbone of Middle Georgia, but what many people may not know is just how far base employment reaches.

According to figures provided by the Robins personnel office, employees come from 78 counties, which is nearly half the state. Workers come from as far as Atlanta, Savannah and counties from the Alabama to South Carolina borders.

Although it is unclear whether some of those may be people who lived in those areas at one time and have since moved here, workers at Robins are known to drive lengthy commutes. That applies to civilians and military members.

Tech Sgt. James Jager drives about 88 miles one way from his home in Sylvester, which is south of Americus. He cited personal reasons for why he chooses to live so far from his work place, but he said there are some advantages.

He passes the time by listening to National Public Radio for the latest on world events. He has been making the drive for four years, so he’s probably fairly knowledgeable about things by now.

“In my line of work, you kind of want to stay abreast of what’s going on out in the world,” said Jager, who works in the 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron.

He also said the long drive gives him a chance to think about his workday ahead on the way up, and unwind on the way back. When he was growing up, his dad drove two hours one way to work, so Jager doesn’t think of it as a big deal.

One disadvantage Jager has is that Sylvester, the county seat of Worth County, is a small town in south Georgia, so there isn’t much chance of organizing a car pool. In fact, according to the personnel office’s list, there is only one Robins employee in Worth County.

Not so for those coming from Atlanta, and for that reason a surprisingly large number of Robins employees live there. The list shows 324 from Gwinnett County and 22 each from Clayton and Fulton counties.

Robert Lemons, a civilian supply technician who also works with the 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron, lives in Henry County, which shows 70 Robins employees. He is part of a van pool that gathers in Henry County, then the passengers take turns driving each day to Robins.

He leaves at 4:50 a.m. each workday and gets to Robins by 6:15 a.m., then makes it back home by 5 p.m., which gives him about a 12-hour workday with the commute. He said he does it because his wife got a job in Atlanta, and he wanted to keep his job at Robins.

The list shows 70 Robins employees in Henry County, and there are other van pools from the area, Lemons said. Each rider pays a fee to the company that provides the van, and they get a $130 monthly federal benefit from a program to encourage car pooling.

“It’s great that we have the benefit,” he said. “It allows me to live in an area where I can be with my family.”

Houston County, not surprisingly, is by far where the most Robins employees reside, with 7,869. Bibb County is a distant second with 1,410 and Peach County has 1,094.

The base employs a total of 23,000 civilians and military members. The largest unit is the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, which performs overhaul maintenance and modifications on the F-15, C-5, C-17 and C-130. It also has many tenant units, including a Marine helicopter squadron, the 5th Combat Communications Group, the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or J-STARS and others.

Learn more about Robins at www.robins.af.mil.

This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Robins employees come from far and wide."